Otago B will play home and away matches against Southland B and Canterbury B this season as a replacement for the scrapped National B competition.
An Otago B side has been named by co-coaches Mike Moeahu and Andy Hunter, and will have its first game against Otago Colts on August 8.
The B side used to play in a national competition against other provincial B sides and had enjoyed some success, winning the competition in 2006 and making the semifinals in 2007.
It did not progress past the first round of games last year.
But the New Zealand Rugby Union dumped the competition for this season in a cost-cutting measure.
The Otago Rugby Football Union has drawn up a programme for the side, with the feature being the home and away games against both Canterbury B and Southland B.
It will also play a game against the Mid Canterbury Heartland championship side on August 22 in Oamaru.
Moeahu said he was pleased with the make-up of the squad, and players from the Otago A squad would also drop down to play in the B team to maintain fitness.
Moeahu said part of the role of the B team was to help out the side above it, and make sure players were fit and ready to take the next step.
Halfback Lewis Hancock has not played any club rugby this year after initially breaking his ankle in club rugby last year.
He aggravated the injury at the start of the year and he has slowly been working his way back to full fitness since then.
Fullback Jeremy Cave, who starred for the Otago sevens team in Queenstown earlier this year, has been named in the team after a lengthy injury break, which meant he was able to make few appearances for his Green Island club side.
Lock Josh Townsend, a former New Zealand under-20 lock, has been named in the side, after injury wrecked his club season because of knee and ankle injuries.
A captain is yet to be named
Otago B
The squad
Dane Maraki, Jone Paumau, Luke Reihana (Alhambra-Union), Warren Moffat, Carl Anderson, Cam Goodhue, Lewis Hancock, Julius Glasson (Southern), Sam Anderson-Heather, Michael Gurran, Fraser Lau, Joe Bradley, Mike Walding (Dunedin), Craig Stanway, James Rosenberg (Pirates), James Cooper (Zingari-Richmond), Pieter Van de Merwe, Jason Kelly, Saiaso Folau (Harbour), Josh Townsend, Hamish Johnstone, Ryan Grant (University), Adam Hill (Kaikorai), Jeremy Cave (Green Island).
